they got motion in the pictures too

As kids my brother and I grew up assuming my dads library of recorded-off-the-movie-channels VHS tapes complete with three ring binder, handwritten notes, and stickers with serial numbers was the way everyone collected movies. Like many modern day recreations of the VHS collection, I may have some familiarity with a few stacks of blank discs, a trusty Sharpie, and movie 'channels' that begin alt.binaries.*

However in a similar trend to the one that helped curb my youthful penchant for software piracy (a lot of friends started to write code for a living combined with a waning interest in gaming as a 24/7 pastime), having friends who bust their asses in the film industry today is starting to have an impact on me.

Like many geeks with access to no more than the local Blockbuster or (in Canada) Rogers Video, I cultivated my love of unusual films with help from sites such as SecretCinema (now Cinema-Obscura), FreakyFlicks, and GreyLodge. I learned to navigate the waters of film on my own with a healthy intake of reviews, interviews, and critiques from the likes Jonathon Ross' Asian Invasion, /Film, and the ubiquitous RottenTomatoes to name a few.

But recently some friends introduced me to the very Torontonian Queen Video, and I was muy impresionado! I was so gape jawed at the fact that they had flicks broken down by director that I almost completely missed the shelves (plural!) labeled ZOMBIE. Amazing.

We walked out with a considerable bounty and settled on watching Michel Gondry's "Science of Sleep", and Brian De Palma's "Sisters", both of which stirred up plenty of interesting conversation (ie. was there a shortage on decent looking fake blood in '73?). For shame!

So to my friends who take their movies so seriously they're running an Oscar pool that spans several of their places of employ, I say gracias! I dunno if I'll run out and start buying box sets of TMNT or anything right off the hop, but I'll certainly be broadening my film horizon to include media obtained through transactions that involve the exchange of dollars as well as bits. At least until the whole world moves their archived media onto Joost :)